Leading the Activation of Private Certificates with One-Stop Authentication 'Pass' by the Three Major Telecom Companies

[Asia Economy Reporter Joselgina] The three major mobile carriers announced on the 24th that they will actively promote the activation of authentication services through advanced technology, fueled by the rapid growth of the private authentication certificate business based on the integrated identity verification brand ‘PASS’.

According to the three carriers, the number of ‘PASS’ subscribers has rapidly increased since the brand integration in July 2018, surpassing 28 million in February from about 14 million before integration. It is expected to exceed 30 million by June.

The number of authentications using the ‘PASS Certificate’ provided based on ‘PASS’ has also shown a steep growth, increasing about sixfold compared to the beginning of the year. Accordingly, the issuance of ‘PASS Certificates’ is estimated to rise from about 10 million at the start of the year to around 20 million by the end of the year.

The three carriers stated that their policy of completely eliminating issuance fees for private certificates for individual customers, reducing customer burden compared to public certificates, and the social atmosphere of increased mobile authentication due to the spread of untact culture have influenced the rapid growth of the ‘PASS Certificate’.

With the upcoming abolition of public certificates under the revised Electronic Signature Act and the activation of various electronic signature services, the three carriers, possessing accumulated identity verification service experience and advanced ICT technology, are expected to lead the private certificate market.

Since being designated as identity verification agencies by the government at the end of 2012, the three carriers have continuously provided services that allow customers to conveniently and safely verify their identity on mobile phones. They improved the method from SMS-based verification to an app-based system and created the joint brand ‘PASS’ in 2018 to enhance convenience for individual and corporate customers.

An industry official said, "The identity verification by the three carriers is safe because it involves dual verification of the mobile phone owner’s identity and device authentication." This method is also applied to the private certificate ‘PASS Certificate,’ which is evaluated to have the strongest security level among private certificates.

The three carriers are promoting the ‘PASS Mobile Driver’s License Verification Service’ in collaboration with the National Police Agency, which enhances convenience and security compared to physical driver’s licenses based on ICT technology. It is planned to be commercialized in June through the Ministry of Science and ICT’s regulatory sandbox.

Additionally, since March, the three carriers have introduced the ‘PASS Easy Login’ service, allowing customers to conveniently log in by choosing either biometric authentication (fingerprint or facial recognition) or a six-digit PIN when using ‘PASS’ affiliated services, nurturing ‘PASS’ as an integrated mobile authentication platform covering customers’ entire mobile lifestyle.

‘PASS’ plans to continue innovating so that the 60 million smartphone users can use it conveniently and safely. The three carriers also plan to contribute to the activation of the electronic certification industry through various authentication services provided based on ‘PASS’ and to continuously cooperate to meet diverse mobile authentication demands based on advanced ICT.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.